


The Music Box

by ChiliTheKid



Series: The More Things Change... [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Regis is going to get it one of these days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23913874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiliTheKid/pseuds/ChiliTheKid
Summary: In which a reminder is found while looking for something else and Aulea realizes she really needs to clean her room
Relationships: Aulea Lucis Caelum & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Aulea Lucis Caelum/Regis Lucis Caelum
Series: The More Things Change... [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624594
Kudos: 17





	The Music Box

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd
> 
>  **Trigger Warnings and/or Spoilers:**  
>  Nada and Chapter 7 onward
> 
> As always, comment if y'all think I missed something!

Aulea paused in surprise as her search for that _stupid_ Primer–and she knew it was here somewhere, she had seen it recently!–unearthed something she had honestly thought lost or destroyed years ago. She blinked down at the wooden music box before picking it up and running a finger along the center carving.

 _“A dara knot,”_ she remembered her grandmother saying around her pipe as she carved it. _“Symbolizes a great many thin’s, but usually interpreted as a symbol o’ strength durin’ troublin’ times.”_ Then the old woman had paused in her wood-working to level both her pipe and a piercing stare at her ten year old self. _“An' somethin’ tells me ya’ll be needin’ more than most.”_

 _Well... she wasn’t wrong.’_ Aulea smirked to herself as Noctis came bounding up.

“Mom, mom! Did you find it yet?” He tugged on her ratty sweats–look, she had to deal with too many flouncy dresses on a good day, just let her have her comfy clothes ok?–as he presumably tried (and failed) to see what she was holding.

“Nah, not yet I haven’t.” Aulea switched the box to her left hand and used her right to heft her baby boy up onto her hip. “But I did find somethin’ even more interestin’!” She brandished said interesting find in front of her kid's face but held it out of reach when he went for it with grabby hands. “Ah, ah, ah. Gently does it, this thin’s older than ya are.” She walked through the bedroom door, put the box on the bedside table and then threw Noctis on the mattress, laughing like a crazy woman as she followed soon after.

“Mom!” Her little boy shrieked when her added weight made him go flying straight into Regis’ mountainous horde of ‘misappropriated’ throw pillows.

(Which reminded her that she needed to have someone go replace them, because if there was one thing she didn’t mess with, it was her Hubby’s pillow collection.)

“Pfft,” she waved away his protests, secretly making sure he could struggle out of that death trap. “Like ya didn't enjoy it.” The following silence was _very_ telling. “Anyway, I thought ya wanted to see what I found.” Noctis finally wiggled his way out–and by that she meant ‘move around like a puppy trying to get out of a hedge it got stuck in’–and faced her with soulful eyes that did nothing to help the puppy comparison.

“Alright, alright!” She dramatically threw a hand over her eyes, “Just put those eyes away!” Noctis whooped and bounced and didn't stop moving until she grabbed hold of him. “You had sugar today, didn't you?” She narrowed her eyes at his vaguely guilty expression. “Hmm...” _‘I will get you back for this, Reggie, mark my words.’_

(Hiding in his Kingly Office, Regis felt a shiver go down his spine. “Sugar must have just hit, then.” He grinned up at his poor long suffering older brother, who only shook his head.

“Aulea is going to murder you one of these days,” Clarus sighed before finally cottoning on the the fact that Regis wasn't doing his paperwork. Instead, he was stealthily playing King’s Knight under the table and watched with barely hidden glee as Mount Clarus erupted. “And I’m going to help her! Regis Lucis Caelum, you are 27 years old and the King of an entire Country! You should not be–”

Regis tuned the rest of the lecture out, having heard variations of the same speech throughout his life enough times to know it by heart, and instead stared out the window. Hmm… seemed to be a nice day outside. Maybe he should go for a walk?

“Are you even listening to me?!”

Yes, some exercise sounded lovely right about now.)

Deciding that planning her revenge could wait until later, she rolled her eyes and reached over to gently pick up the music box from where she had left it. Rearranging herself so that she was up against the headboard with her small child sitting on her lap, she let her chin gently fall to the top of Noctis’ head.

“My grandmother made this for me when I was but a young girl,” Aulea smiled when small fingers began to inch along the dips and curves in the woodwork, though he did spend the most time working the circular patterns on the sides for some reason.

“All by herself?” Noctis looked up, awe so clear on his face that she couldn’t help herself. Letting Noctis hold the box, she reached up and pinched his chubby cheeks. “Mooooom!” He whined and laid the music box in his lap to try and bat her hands away when she went to go do it again.

“Sorry, ya’re just so cute sometimes.” Noctis grumbled a few choice words under his breath that had her both snorting in amusement and honestly wondering if he picked those up from the newest 'Glaives or her. Maybe both, if she was being honest with herself. “Anyway, ta answer ya question, yeah she did. I remember watchin’ her carve these symbols,” tapping the Dara Knot with a fingernail, “usin’ only the light of the fire she sat next ta, ta see by. Said they were meant to remind me of the Cionnaith Family History, though I never could see how.”

“Wow…” Her eldest baby breathed.

“Mmm, If ya think that’s cool, wait ‘til ya hear the music.” Ignoring Noctis’ curious blink, she lifted the lid by pressing the buttons hidden within the circles in a certain order and smiled when a cheerful tune began playing. “Nana called this song ‘Noctis.’”

“Like me?”

“Like you.” Memories of trying to find a name for her night owl of a baby played through her head–of thinking about Astricus, Lunae, Nox, Ibis (though, admittedly, that last one was meant purely in jest, because the thought of her son being called ‘Light of the Owl Sky’ made her break out into uncontrollable giggles)–before falling asleep and dreaming of her Grandmother humming this tune under her breath as she worked. “I told ya Da that mornin’ an’ that's how ya were named!" She tilted her head to press a kiss into his hair, but a flash of bright green hidden within a nearby bookshelf caught her eye and she zeroed in on the object.

It was the primer. “Are ya kidding me.” She picked both kid and box up, put the box back on the table, hiked the kid up on a hip and stalked over to the bookshelf she was sure she had checked when she first began looking for the stupid thing. “Well,” she grabbed the notebook and held it out for Noctis to look though. “Shall we begin?”

**Author's Note:**

>  **Translations:**  
>  None


End file.
